Business Support Services

Private employer 2022 rates
announced
Sedgwick is pleased to announce the 2022 private employer workers’ compensation premium rates
have been approved by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) Board of Directors.
At the February Board of Directors meeting, BWC approved an overall statewide loss cost (base rate)
reduction of 10% for private employer. This reduction becomes effective July 1, 2022 and is expected
to decrease paid premiums by nearly $106 million in the next fiscal year and follows a similar reduction
for public employers (counties, cities, schools, and others) that went into effect Jan 1st, 2022.
At the March BWC Board meeting, individual loss costs were approved for all 504 private employer
manual class codes currently used by private employers in Ohio. Private Employer loss costs by class
code are developed to provide the necessary overall statewide income through employer level
premiums to cover the claims costs of injuries and occupational diseases to injured workers and their
survivors that happen during the policy year. While the overall change is an average reduction of 10%,
this is composed of multiple sources including the impact of an employers’ experience modifiers,
certain rebates, credits, programs and rating plans.
Private employers can expect to see these rate changes reflected on their premium billing sent by BWC
later this spring.

For more information, contact our Sedgwick program manager, Julia Bowling at 513.218.4062 or julia.bowling@sedgwick.co

Complacency and the workplace
The term complacency, doing the same task for so long without incident that you assume nothing will ever
happen, can become a challenge in any workplace. Complacency can affect anyone at any age regardless of their
experience but there are ways to spot complacency among yourself and your employees. All too often employees
do not realize how complacent they actually have become until they have a near miss or close call; such events
tend to jumpstart hearts and refocus proper attention, at least for a little while, to the importance of tasks at
hand.
Many times, employees are unaware of complacency and as they work through their daily job functions, they lose
sight of hazards that may exist. Some may feel they are not affected by complacency but just letting your guard
down for short time can be dangerous. One way to combat complacency is to be an engaged worker. Engaged
workers are those that always work in the moment staying aware of the surroundings.
Let’s take an example of a person who performs a daily safety inspection before operation. This daily routine
occurs for months even years without incident. Then the employee decides to skip the inspection. Then another
time and soon inspections are being done less frequently and then something happens. Perhaps the employee
doing the inspection gets injured or one of their fellow workers. Either way the results can be terrifying.
Usually the best person to spot complacency is the employee themselves, but complacency can mean they don’t
see the dangers right in front of them. To stay safe, teach employees how to identify complacency for themselves.
This may include situations such as:
• Dissatisfaction with work and/or lack of motivation
• Missing steps in work processes
• Frequent near-misses or incidents
Since it can be difficult to recognize these signs for each employee, teach them to spot them in their co-workers.
The more they learn how to recognize these signs, the easier it may be to identify them in other situations. When
looking at signs of complacency from your employees keep an eye out for the following situations:
• Changes in attitude
• Noticeable increase or decrease in communication
• Tardiness for meetings or shifts
As we mentioned earlier, getting employees engaged is a key point in getting out of the rut of complacency. There
are some steps to focus on that will help.
• By consciously focusing on the task will lead to setting them up for success.
• It is key to recognize and dismiss distractions when they come up.
• When approaching tasks look for improvements in the routine. Always be on the lookout for continual
improvement.
• If possible, consider changing some elements of the work schedule for the day; the change could help
them focus and keep them from falling into “cruise control” mode